US taco chain used fake priest to trick staff into confessions
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Staff were encouraged to "confess" workplace “sins” like being late for shifts, or stealing.
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LOS ANGELES - A California taco chain used a fake priest to try to get employees to confess workplace “sins” like being late for their shift, said the United States Department of Labour.
A man introduced as a minister at the Taqueria Garibaldi chain encouraged staff to unburden their consciences about when they may have done anything to harm their employer.
In litigation brought by the Department of Labour, a worker testified that the ersatz man of God had urged workers to “get their sins out”, asking if they had ever stolen from the company, or done anything to harm it.
The operator of the restaurants in Sacramento and nearby Roseville was ordered to pay 35 staff US$140,000 (S$188,000) in back wages and damages, the department said in a press release in June.
The court action came after an investigation found that Taqueria Garibaldi denied employees overtime pay.
It also found managers were paid illegally from the employee tip pool and staff were threatened with “immigration consequences” if they cooperated with the department’s investigation.
“This employer’s despicable attempts to retaliate against employees were intended to silence workers, obstruct an investigation and prevent the recovery of unpaid wages,” said the regional solicitor of labour, Mr Marc Pilotin, in San Francisco.
A spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento told the Catholic News Agency the man presented as a minister was not connected to them.
“While we don’t know who the person in question was, we are completely confident he was not a priest of the Diocese of Sacramento,” he said. AFP
